Lola sent me this. Food for thought. My own experience has been nothing like that described below, but yet, I am inextricably effected -- the girls I've dated only seeing Love with a capital L as an option and ignoring pragmatic concerns (or compatibilities); the fact that I'm 27 and single; the wondering I've done about what life will look like after 30. (Is "settling down" my only option? What if I don't find someone to "settle down" with? What, in fact, am I going to do after 30? With life, with play, with everything?)

I find myself looking down on twixters a little -- like their parents probably do. Not for the same reasons, perhaps, but my judgment is still there. Ironic, because I largely fit the profile of one from the outside. I still feel like a late adolescent feeling my way around concepts like purpose and spirituality, yet am genuinely confused by fellow twixters who spend so much time being lost. I think they like it, in fact. "Just pick something!" I want to scream... as if "something" is better than being lost. It is, of course, my own self-judgment turned outward, but still... I think it's true. If confusion brings angst and the sense that you've missed out on something, then why not just pick something and thoroughly explore it? Wouldn't that be better than being miserable?

Heck, if you're still miserable, at least you'll be making more money/friends/knowledge which will make the next angst-laden decision a little easier to make sense of.

Then again, I guess that's the point of this article. It's all a learning process, and maybe everyone tends to end up where they belong anyway.

Now *that* was a faithful statement. Go figure.

--

> Copyright 2005 Time Inc.

> Time Magazine

>

> January 24, 2005

>

>SECTION: U.S. EDITION; SOCIETY; Pg. 42

>

>LENGTH: 5804 words

>

>HEADLINE: Grow Up? Not So Fast;

>MEET THE TWIXTERS. THEY'RE NOT KIDS ANYMORE, BUT THEY'RE NOT ADULTS

>EITHER. WHY

>A NEW BREED OF YOUNG PEOPLE WON'T--OR CAN'T?--SETTLE DOWN

>

>BYLINE: Lev Grossman, With reporting by Nadia Mustafa; Deirdre van

Dyk/ New

>York; Kristin Kloberdanz/ Chicago; Marc Schultz/ Atlanta

>

>BODY:

>

>Michele, Ellen, Nathan, Corinne, Marcus and Jennie are friends. All of

>them live in Chicago. They go out three nights a week, sometimes more.

>Each of them has had several jobs since college; Ellen is on her 17th,

>counting internships, since 1996. They don't own homes. They change

>apartments frequently. None of them are married, none have children.

All

>of them are from 24 to 28 years old.

>

>Thirty years ago, people like Michele, Ellen, Nathan, Corinne, Marcus